The Philadelphia Union traded All-Star forward Jack McInerney to the Montreal Impact for Andrew Wenger on Friday. #INSERT type:image caption:Before Friday's trade, Jack McInerney had been with the Union since they joined MLS. END#
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The 21-year-old McInerney led the Union in scoring with 12 goals in 31 league games last season after scoring eight league goals in 2012. He has one goal in four games this year.
McInerney, who the Union drafted in the first round before their inaugural MLS season, has not yet played for the U.S. national team but was on the winning American team's roster for the group stage of last year's CONCACAF Gold Cup.
"We are extremely pleased to be able to bring in a player of Jack McInerney's quality," said Impact sporting director Nick De Santis in a statement. "At a young age, he's already showed the ability to score goals in this league and we feel his qualities and soccer sense fit well within our style of play."
Wenger, 23, was the first overall pick in MLS' 2012 SuperDraft after winning the Hermann Trophy at Duke. He scored four goals as a rookie and one last season.
Wenger started the Impact's first three games this year during Marco Di Vaio's suspension and has one goal in four matches.
"Right now, we see it as a straight swap -- forward for forward," Union manager John Hackworth said in a conference call, according to MLSsoccer.com. "[Wenger] is more of a prototypical No. 9 than Jack was or is. That's where we see him. But he is versatile enough, which we really like. You could put him on the left or right, or drop him into the midfield, and he’d be effective."
Hackworth said the forwards' contract situations also played a role in the deal. McInerney is nearing the end of his deal while Wenger has two years remaining.
"It's not that I don't think we could have signed Jack to another contract," Hackworth said. "But it certainly presents another set of problems when a player is at the end of a contract and you know what you're going to have to do to retain that player's rights."
Wenger has an immediate chance to enter the Union starting line-up when he joins the team next week, Hackworth added.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.